BRANDING THROUGH MARKETING SEMIOTICS AND BRAND LOVE: AN EXPLORATIVE STUDY

This study investigates the interplay of marketing semiotics and brand love (BLV) in fostering brand loyalty (BLY) within digital retail, where emotional and symbolic connections drive consumer behaviour. With global brand value at $6.1 trillion in 2023, brands leverage semiotics—signs, symbols,and narratives—and emotional bonds to enhance competitiveness, as emotionally connected consumers are 52% more valuable. Despite extensive research, gaps persist in integrating semiotic and emotional frameworks, understanding longitudinal brand love dynamics, and exploring cultural nuances in digital contexts. This research addresses these gaps by examining how brand semiotics, brand experience and cultural semiotic alignment influence brand love and brand loyalty, and how brand loyalty acts as a mediator between the constructs. Employing an exploratory design, data were collected from 345 purposively sampled respondents via a structured questionnaire with a 7-point Likert scale, analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling. Findings confirm significant paths with brand love mediating the impact of brand semiotics, brand experience and cultural semiotic alignment on brand loyalty. Cultural semiotic alignment emerged as a critical brand love antecedent, emphasizing cultural resonance. Limitations include the cross-sectional design and purposive sampling, limiting generalizability. Future research should adopt longitudinal approaches, explore demographic moderators, and investigate immersive digital platforms. This study offers marketers strategies for crafting culturally resonant, experiential branding to enhance loyalty, advancing theoretical frameworks by integrating semiotic and emotional constructs. Keywords: Brand Semiotics, Brand Love, Brand Loyalty, Cultural Semiotic Alignment, Digital Retail